Deeplinks Blog posts about Innovation

Update December 8, 2014: Today EFF, together with Engine Advocacy, filed public comments regarding the FTC's proposed consent agreement with MPHJ. We commend the FTC for taking action against this troll's deceptive conduct. At the same time, we urge the FTC to seek real penalties, such as disgorgement of licensing revenues secured through deception. We also request that the FTC take action against similar trolls such as the Innovatio IP Ventures, which sent thousands of deceptive letters to hotels and cafes demanding payment for using off-the-shelf Wi-Fi routers.

Update (Nov. 4, 2014): On Oct. 31, 2014 YogaGlo officially filed at the PTO to disclaim its patent as well as abandon its pending related application. We're happy to report that YogaGlo did the right thing (even if belatedly) in abandoning its stupid patent and application.

Update (Oct. 29, 2014):Yesterday, the Court granted [PDF] Capstone's Motion for Judgment on the pleadings, finding that all claims were invalid for claiming unpatentable subject matter, applyingAlice v. CLS Bank. We're glad Capstone fought against these patents and achieved a total victory, despite the significant costs associated with doing so. We're also happy that the court decided this issue early, sparing the parties and the Court additional needless time and expense. We hope this decision motivates others to challenge stupid patents early.

Lumen View is a typical patent troll. Armed with a vague patent on “facilitating bilateral and multilateral decision-making,” it sent out aggressive letters demanding payment. It refused to explain how its targets actually infringed its patent. Instead, it made shakedown offers it knew would be less than the cost of defending a lawsuit. When startup FindTheBest spoke up about Lumen View’s tactics, the troll asked for a gag order.

Earlier this year, Randall Rader, then Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit, called a group of administrative patent judges “death squads.” What had these judges done to deserve such savage criticism? They had done exactly what Congress intended: found some bad patents invalid. This week EFF filed comments with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) supporting the work of its administrative trial judges and urging the agency to make review of issued patents as affordable and efficient as possible.